The preliminary hearing in the case against the suspected murderers of Novaya Gazeta investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya will begin at Moscow City Court Monday, ITAR-TASS reported.
During the meeting, which will be held behind closed doors, the parties will be given the chance to submit a motion to the court, and to determine the order in which the evidence will be examined.?
Several defendants stand accused of murdering the journalist in the lift of her residence in 2006 and are expected to ask for a jury trial.
According to investigators, Gaitukayev organized Politkovskaya's killing in October 2006 by hiring a criminal gang of three Chechen brothers, Rustam, Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudov, and another former police official, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov.
In December ex-cop Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, who entered a plea bargain with the investigators, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiring in the murder of Politkovskaya.